I was researching about the American minimum wage and found out that things are much more complicated than they seem. Many people think it's all the same in the US, but that's not true at all.

The federal minimum has been at $7.25 per hour since 2009 (yes, it’s been frozen for years), but each state does whatever it wants. Some people in Washington DC earn $17.50/hour while in other places it’s $5.15/hour. I mean, the difference is huge.

If you work 40 hours a week with the federal minimum, that’s about $1,160 per month. Converting to reais with the 2025-2026 exchange rate, it’s around R$6,000. Seems like a lot? Yeah, but the cost of living there is on a different level. Just rent alone costs over $1,600 in bigger cities. The numbers just don’t add up.

In states like California and New York, the minimum wage is higher ($16.50/hour), but the rents are also the worst in the country. Washington DC has the highest minimum wage ($17.50/hour), which amounts to about $2,800/month, but living there isn’t cheap either.

The system is really decentralized. Each state, each city can set its own rate. That’s why it’s important to research not only the minimum wage of the state where you want to work but also how much it costs to live there. Because earning more at the moment doesn’t mean you’ll live better if the rent triples.

To be honest, most people can’t live just on the American minimum wage. Many work two jobs or look for other sources of income. It’s a very different reality from what we imagine here in Brazil.